Fastener keeper



United States Patent FASTENER KEEPER Filed June 6, 1957, Ser. No. 663,926

4 Claims. (Cl. 292-17) This invention relates to two-part fasteners for securing two parts together and, more particularly, as concerned with a resilient keeper or socket to be carried by one of them for cooperation with a headed stud member carried by the other. It provides a simple keeper element having resilient clasping parts by which it is suspended from the part which carrie's it and which also act to retain the stud member. As will appear, the keeper in its preferred form may be a simple strip of resilient metal suitably formed and adapted to be mounted to maintain itself in an opening in an exposed wall of the structure to which it is to be secured from the front although the opposite or rear face of the wall may be inaccessible.

The invention will be well understood by reference to the following description of the illustrative embodiment thereof, shown by way of example in the drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through a supporting structure and a cooperating structure, showing in elevation the cooperating parts of the fastener which secures the two together;

Figs. 2 and 3 are sections on the lines 2-2 and 33 of Fig. 1 respectively; and

Fig. 4 is a section in the same plane as Fig. .1, showing how the keeper may be initially mounted on the structure which carries it.

In the following description I shall consider the parts as if disposed in a vertical plane with the keeper extending horizontally and viewed from the side on which the member carrying the stud lies, that is, from the bottom viewing Fig. 1, and I shall use the relative words forwardly and rearwardly, up and down from that point of view, and inwardly, outwardly and laterally with respect to the center point of the keeper. These words are not significant except to facilitate the description of the relative position of the parts.

Referring therefore to the drawings, in Fig. l I show a rear structure to the forward face of which is secured a front structure 12. If structure 12 were hinged at a remote point the fastener operates in the manner of a door latch. The front structure carries the stud or male member 14, in itself of known form, and having a spear-shaped end which cooperates with the resilient keeper 16, to which the invention more particularly relates. The spear-shaped head has, distally, rearwardly and inwardly inclined surfaces 18 which enter the keeper and stress the laterally disposed yieldable parts thereof outwardly, until the widest part of the head passes behind them, and permits them to recoil into engagement with the forwardly and inwardly inclined surfaces 19 proximal to surfaces 18. Where the surfaces 19 are gently sloping the stud portion may be withdrawn on application of suitable pull. If they were sufficiently abrupt a permanent lock would result.

In Fig. 1 the rear structure 10 is illustrated as formed of sheet metal with a front wall 20 provided with a rectangular slot 22. The keeper 16 is suspended from 2,942,905 Patented June 28, 1960 ice the ends of the slot and, as will appear, in' the form shown may be introduced from the front of the wall 20, although the rear side of the wall is inaccessible. The resiliency of the member 16 serves both to position it in the slot 22 and to permit it to snap into and out from engagement with the head of the stud 14.

The keeper herein is formed of a single strip of re silient metal and comprises a back having two laterally and forwardly inclined sides 24 merging through rounded ends 25 with forwardly and inwardly extending arms 26, which in turn merge in the laterally disposed coils or volutes 28, which terminate in hooks 30 opening laterally. In its normal, unstressed, or slightly stressed condition the distance between the bottoms of the hooks 30 is equal to or slightly greater than the length of the slot and the-inwardly facing arcs of the volutes 28 are 7 closer together than the length of the slot but spaced, as

vide abuttrlents or supporting points for the ends of the volutes about which they may flex' in a constricting movement to permit the-head to pass, and the volutes grasp the head on their recoil. The arms 26 partake of this constricting'mover'nent and the sides 24 of the back may yield to accommodate the outward movement of the rounded junctionsbetweexr the sides 24 and the arms 26.

To support the keeper against rearward pressure, abutments are provided thereon cooperating with the front face of the wall 20. Obviously the hook portions 30 must not be wider than the slot in order to permit them to grasp its margins. The forwardly facing arcs of the volutes 28 however are made wider and present inner and outer shoulders 32 and 34 respectively, adapted to bear on the front face of the wall 20, along the upper and lower margins of the slot 22. The back 24 and arms 26 rearwardly of the shoulders 32 and 34 are of less width than the vertical width of the slot and the arms 26 may move freely laterally therein.

The back and the arms are long to give suitable flexibility to the volutes, the rear ends of the arms being widely spaced and the back 24 connecting them longer than the length of the slot. Nevertheless, when properly proportioned, the keeper may be introduced in slot 22 from the front of the wall 20 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 4. It will there be seen that the left-hand extremity of the back is introduced through the slot and the left-hand hook 30, viewing the figure, engaged with the left-hand margin of the slot with the adjacent shoulders 34 overlying the upper and lower margins of the slot. The length of the back is such that it extends past the opposite margin as seen in the figure. However, if suflicient pressure rearwardly and toward the left is exerted on the right-hand end of the keeper, the left ha'nd volute will be compressed, permitting the entire structure to move over somewhat to the left, and there may be some yielding of the right-hand side 24 of the back in a clockwise direction. This permits the rounded extremity 25 at the right to snap into the rear past the right-hand margin of the slot. The shoulders 32 and 34 at the tight limit the rearward movement but the hook 30 at the right passes into slot and snaps back to embrace the right-hand end wall of the same. The snap action involved is a powerful one and the exact motions of the parts involved are not easy to observe. The anchorage produced is very secure and the keeper, as a practical matter, cannot be withdrawn from the front.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in 3 t I 3 other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be vconsidered in all respects as plate, from the exposed face of the platetcomprising a strip of resilient metal shaped to provide a back substani tially longer than the slot and including laterally and forwardly extending sides merging with rounded ends into inwardly extending arms which merge into laterally coiled volutes terminating inv hooked portions opening laterally to receive the end margins, of the slot, the terminal hooked portions and the back and adjacent portions" of abutments, the coils having inwardly facing'space'd arcs for engaging the head of the stud and extending outward beyond their above mentioned ends respectively and a back member extending between and connecting the coils, the forwardly facing arcs of the coils having rearwardly facing shoulders whereby the keeper may be suspended on said fixedra-butments and supported against inward displacement by the shoulders.

4. A keeper for cooperation with a spear-headed stud comprising a pair of resilient coils each having an end formed with outwardly facing means for fitting an inwardly presented edge on a fixed support, the'coils extending in encircling relation to said ends, a back to which the coils are eonn ected,teach at a point'remote from said ends, and which when .the coils are in an unstressed condition spaces said ends to provide for suspension of the keeper from the edges aforesaid with the adjacent arcs of the coils likewise spaced to provide for entry of the head between said' adjacent arcs with the. arms beingrof less width than the' slot and the for- Wardly presented portions of the volutes 'of greater width.

2. A spring keeper for cooperation with a spearheaded V stud comprising a spaced pair of open spiral coils' presenting at their ends means for interengaging fixed abutments, the 'coils having inwardly facing spaced arcs for engaging the head of the stud and extending outward beyond their. .above mentioned ends respectively and a concomitant constriction of the coils about the so supported ends as fixed supporting points.

References Cited in the file of this patent o :UN"ITED STATES PATENTS Pender Oct. 10, 1939 2,342,831 Borchers Feb. 29, 1944 2,414,662 Ostrom Jan. 21, 1947 2,652,275 Tinnerman e Sept. 15, 1953 2,733,944 Chvosta Feb. 7, 1956 2,809,413 Wootton Oct. 15, 1957 r FOREIGN PATENTS 

